Thursday, December 19, 2013

Jones The Grocer, Sydney CBD

The following day after I came back from my trip to Korea, I caught up with one of my friends at Jones the Grocer inside Westfield Sydney, which currently resides where Justin North's Becasse used to be. I've always walked past this restaurant that sits in the corner of the food court, but have never ventured inside until now.

Pear & blueberry cordial, $5.00

For drinks to start off with, our super friendly waitress recommended the pear and blueberry cordial as a personal favourite, and I decided to take it with sparkling water. The bubbles made it taste like a softdrink! It was sweet and really quite lovely.

Mixed board for sharing, $45.00

Our eyes zoned in on this as soon as we read it on the menu. We were warned that it really was quite huge and is normally shared between two people as an entire meal! That didn't deter us though because cured meats and cheese is a combination that's just meant to be. It really was spectacular when it hit the table simply because of the sheer size. There was proscuitto, fennel and garlic salami, wagyu bresaola, mild chorizo on the meat platter and I really loved it together with the marinated goat's cheese and bread which is all house-baked. The marinated mushrooms were also surprisingly tasty and mildly sweet to counteract the saltiness of the meats.

I'm a huge risotto fan when it's done well and I loved, loved, loved this one! It took me on a rollercoaster of flavours from the hit of truffle when you first take a spoonful of the rice, which slowly dissolves into something wonderfully creamy and cheesy. Yet it didn't feel heavy at all because the final flavour which lingers on the palette is the freshness of the herbs and asparagus. Definitely could not get enough of this one!

At this point, both of us were stuffed. And guiltily staring out the window at the gym across Pitt St Mall right in our line of sights. But we were encouraged to get dessert because the sticky date pudding is apparently to die for! And boy were they right. Just look at the pool of salted caramel it's sitting in! It was so rich and moist and amazing of all sorts... We polished it all off despite mentioning we were full beyond relief just 10 minutes prior hehe.

Young coconut rice pudding with mango & almond crunch, $12.00

The other dessert we ordered was the young coconut rice pudding which was nowhere near as rich as I expected it to be because young coconut juice is used instead of the heavier version of coconut milk. The rice still retained a bit of bite - thank goodness it wasn't overcooked like the mushes some rice puddings turn out to be. I very much felt like I was eating a Thai dessert!

They nicely offered to pack away our antipasti boards to takeaway as we could not finish it no matter how hard we tried - there's only so much two Asian girls can eat! But I know I will be back to try the dinner menu as the beef rib is tempting me :P Along with many other things! And situated so conveniently in the city, how can you not make a stop by?

Crystal Noir and friend dined as a guest of Jones The Grocer thanks to Jessie Hargreaves of Cav Con

Sherrie Huang

TWENTY ONE years young. I live, love and study architecture in the city of Sydney. I love to dream, wander, laze and adore chocolate to the brink of addiction. I am a shoeholic who has a tendency to buy more than I actually wear.This is just a place to gather and post my favourite things and to record the lovely moments in my life so I can smile about them one day. Thanks for stopping by ♥